Tele-Cocooning

Definition

Tele-Cocooning is a term developed by Ichiyo Habuchi to describe intimate human computer interaction, specifically in reference to "the communication of one person to the next without having physical interaction with that person".[1][2]

"The concept of tele-cocooning is what most people choose to use today especially with the more effective forms of technology. These forms allow for quicker and more efficient ways of communicating back and forth".[3]

Benefits

"Benefits of tele-cocooning are the fact that nations can interact rather quickly with each other when it comes to things like natural disasters or unexpected attacks. With tele-cocooning group tactics get done quicker because the group members do not have to be with each other to get the job done. The use of tele-cocooning makes it easier for shared knowledge to come about. The term also makes for just better communication with the use of the Internet a thoughts can be shared in seconds. Using the phone or Internet is also quicker because you don’t have to wait".[4]

Ethnography

"In our ethnographic studies, we found that most mobile phone communication was done with a small circle of close friends and family, generally 2-5 others, rarely more than 10. While mobile phone address books might contain over a hundred entries, the actual communication logs of our research demonstrated that by far the bulk of exchanges was with the intimate circle. This kind of social formation is what Ichiyo Habuchi has called a “tele-cocoon”.[5], calls the “full-time intimate community,” For heavy mobile phone users, particularly those who rely on the lightweight modality of text messaging, their social relations are “always on.” In fact, we are finding an emergent social norm around frequent text messagers that they will signal their unavailability from the shared online space by sending good night messages, or messages such as “I’m taking a bath now.” In other words, the connected state is the default and the disconnected state is noted".[6]

Sharing through Cocooning

..."the sharing of photos is tied to a sense of “distributed co-presence” that we have found people constructing through the exchange of texts messaging".[7]. In the case of text messaging, people will often email intimates with information about their current status, such as “I’m walking up the hill now,” or “just watched a great TV show.” The visual information shared between intimates also represents a similar social practice, of sharing ambient awareness with close friends, family and loved ones who are not physically co-present. As in the case of the prior mediums of text and voice, these communications are part of the construction of “full-time intimate communities”.[8], or what Ichiyo Habuchi has called a “tele-cocoon”. These perspectives are based on a growing body of work on mobile phone use in Japan is showing that people generally exchange the bulk of their mobile communication with a relatively small and intimate social group of 2-5 others. The exchange of communication with this group, in turn, becomes a relexive process of self-authoring and viewpoint construction.

Ito, Mizuko and Daisuke Okabe. 2003. “Mobile Phones, Japanese Youth, and the Re-placement of Social Contact.” Front stage-Back-stage, the fourth Conference of the social consequences of mobile telephony.